Its oh so quiet Shh Shh

[infernalis]

My youngest daughter Sammy is "Goth" with a dominatrix twist in appearance, but she is a sweetheart most of the time, until she gets mad.

She goes for the black hair, black nail polish / lipstick, leather jacket, Abby Boots, wrist bands, dog collar look.

sort of sexy and scary all rolled into one.

She is 16 now, so those typical "I hate the world" type fits are common.

[EasternGirl]

Teenage angst....I never really got rid of that...j/k....okay, I got rid of it for the most part...lol. Just my bipolar nature...like I always say...I'm a very sweet person...until someone ticks me off! Then my head spins around and green stuff shoots out of my mouth....lol. And ahhh...the dominatrix look...now you're describing my 20's....again....can't really pull that off at kiddie soccer games and PTA meetings...of course some of the dads probably wouldn't object.

[EasternGirl]

Okay...this has to be said...where is everyone on this forum??? A year ago when I joined this forum, there were people on here all the time...at all hours of the day and night to talk to. It has gotten pretty depressing...there is never anyone on here anymore. Sometimes I see people listed as online, but then no one is posting anything. Maybe some people are like me and they forget to log off...or maybe people are reading...I don't know. But it just isn't like it used to be on here and I miss the way things were.

[Stefan-A]

Okay...this has to be said...where is everyone on this forum??? A year ago when I joined this forum, there were people on here all the time...at all hours of the day and night to talk to. It has gotten pretty depressing...there is never anyone on here anymore. Sometimes I see people listed as online, but then no one is posting anything. Maybe some people are like me and they forget to log off...or maybe people are reading...I don't know. But it just isn't like it used to be on here and I miss the way things were.

I thought I noticed a sharp drop in users after the latest forum upgrade, but that may just have been my imagination. I do want to point out that there's a huge difference between summers and winters here. As long as people find garters in the wild, there are more users here and when winter comes, they tend to disappear. I've noticed the same trend with my videos on YouTube.

Keepers also tend to stay here until they feel that they have found out all they need to know about garters for the time being and then they stop posting and fade away. Even those who are long-term users of the forum tend to fade away as their lives or priorities change.

I'm constantly here, because I always have a browser open and this forum happens to be among the half a dozen tabs I have open.

I wish you could see how depressing it really is. Since I became a user, this forum has shifted from a majority of very serious breeders to a majority of pet owners that essentially come here to blog about their snakes. Not that I find anything wrong with that, but it does show that this forum has become less appealing to those who would have the most to teach the rest of us.

Then again, maybe I'm making too many assumptions and there's a simpler and better explanation.

[EasternGirl]

I like the fact that there are serious breeders on here that can educate...but I also like the threads in which pet owners blog about their snakes...that part is interesting to me and it builds a sense of community and family on the forum that I have come to treasure. I have made friends and connected to people and look forward to sharing in the day to day joys and sorrows of their lives with their garters. The information about garters initially attracted me to the site...but it was the sense of community that kept me coming back.

[kibakiba]

I'd be a serious breeder if I had the space time and mentality to. Perhaps when I get that job and get some miracle cure to my depression, and can afford a 3 bedroom house.... 2 rooms to my snakes and one room for me and my guitars and violins

[EasternGirl]

I don't know if I would want to be a serious breeder...maybe. Would I like to have a bigger snake collection with a wider variety of snakes? Yes. Would I like to have a huge house and a beautiful, fully equipped reptile room? Of course. But I don't know if I would want to go into breeding and selling.

[infernalis]

I don't know if I would want to be a serious breeder...maybe. Would I like to have a bigger snake collection with a wider variety of snakes? Yes. Would I like to have a huge house and a beautiful, fully equipped reptile room? Of course. But I don't know if I would want to go into breeding and selling.

Trust me, breeding and selling garter snakes is NOT lucrative by any means. Even the largest scale Thamnophis breeder we know of here still has to hold down a full time job to live.

[EasternGirl]

Oh I hear you...I'm just saying that if I had a big house and more money I would probably have a bigger snake collection and a huge reptile room..but I don't know if I would ever go into breeding and selling...just don't know if that is my thing. I like snakes for the personal enjoyment of them.

[infernalis]

My biggest problem is I wind up keeping too many of the babies.